Electrospun Nanofiber Poly (3,4-ethylenedioxytriophene): poly (styrene sulfonate) / poly (vinyl alcohol) as Strain Sensor Application

Abstract

A strain sensor based on poly (3,4-ethylenedioxytriophene): poly (styrene sulfonate)/poly (vinyl alcohol) (PEDOT: PSS/PVA) nanofiber has been successfully fabricated by electrospinning technique. Patterned copper wires were deposited on the mica flexible substrate with the distance of 1 mm. The sensor then characterized with various strain by one side bending. The conductivity of as-spun nanofiber mats can be adjusted from 0.03 to 1.2 µS cm-1 with various concentration of PVA and depends on its structure and its nanofiber diameter. The sensing mechanism of nanofiber-based strain sensor is due to the common piezoelectric effect of PEDOT:PSS polymer and unique nanostructure of nanofiber mats. When the sensor stretched, the length of nanofiber increase affecting the geometrical change and lead the increasing in resistance. This sensor shows good repeatability with gauge factor of 17. The performance of PEDOT:PSS/PVA nanofiber based strain sensor make nanofiber mats as promising alternative materials for strain sensor application.

Sensitivity prediction and analysis of nanofiber-based gas sensors using solubility and vapor pressure parameters

“…For example, acetone analyte (13) has the highest vapor pressure compared to others, which should provide the lowest sensor sensitivity. However, the experiment result shows that the lowest sensor sensitivity was obtained by methanol (14). It proves the contribution of the affinity parameter (i.e., acetone has a higher affinity compared to methanol).…”

“…[5][6][7][8][9][10] The nanofibrous mats possess numerous properties that are advantageous for enhancing the gas sensing performance (i.e., small structure, high porosity, large surface area to volume ratio, and adjustable surface). [11][12][13][14] Recently, nanofiber-based QCM sensors have been developed and tested towards several target gases (e.g., alcohol, 15) ammonia, 16,17) formaldehyde, 18) trimethylamine, 19,20) and humidity 21,22) ). Although the reported devices exhibited high performance with a gas sensitivity of down to sub-ppm level, their sensing mechanism has not been well understood.…”

Highly Conductive PEDOT:PSS: Ag Nanowire-Based Nanofibers for Transparent Flexible Electronics

“…Moreover, compared to PEDOT:PSS thin films, a large-area, aligned fiber morphology possesses high flexibility along the longitudinal axis (i.e., spinning direction), which helps to retain the original electrical characteristics under multiple bending cycles. Despite their superior properties, electrospun conductive fibers have electrical properties that fall in the range of semiconductors (from 10 –6 to 10 1 S/cm) − since they are usually incorporated with nonconductive electrospinnable polymers. Thus, efforts toward an improvement in the electrical properties of fibers have been made by applying deposition methods such as electroplating, dip coating, , metal deposition, vapor phase polymerization, , vapor exposure, oxidative polymerization, or in situ polymerization and other techniques .…”